From 2012 to 2015, hundreds of volunteers are counting birds in the Netherlands. On www.vogelatlas.nl (under Results) anyone can see the first provisional maps. These map images are updated daily with the latest observations. All counts ultimately will result in a new Atlas of the Dutch birds. SOVON organizes the Atlas Project for the fourth time since its inception in 1973.

Peregrine plus, minus for the nightingale

The long series of forty years of counting means that a lot is known about the distribution and numbers of birds. The first year of counting for the new atlas already shows remarkable results. Take the peregrine. In the mid 1970s of the fastest bird in the world only a few couples nested in the Veluwe region. Around the turn of the century, the number of breeding pairs had increased significantly. Their nests were located mainly along large open waters such as the Biesbosch, the Dollard and the Meuse.

Some fifteen years later, the peregrine nests in almost all provinces. The number of nests in Brabant and the Green Heart is remarkable. The species benefits from, eg, nest boxes which volunteers have posted on tall buildings, such as television towers. These are excellent for this inhabitant of, originally, rocky cliff coasts.

The map of the nightingale is the reverse image of that. This beautifully singing bird seems to have disappeared from large parts of the Netherlands. Only in the dunes of North Holland still significant numbers were counted in 2013.

Another species, the goldfinch, is a success story. In the mid 1970s this colourful bird lived especially in the low parts of the Netherlands and along the Great Rivers. In the past forty years, the goldfinch has greatly expanded eastward. You can also find it today in East Brabant and Twente.